Laura Drane, one of our Covid-19 grant recipients, has already put the grant into action. She writes here:

Light, Ladd & Emberton’s revolutionary Disgo Distaw Owain Glyndŵr Silent Disco has been reimagined as a live Disgo Zoom Disco. This online lockdown special formed part of the Green Man Field Of Streams festival in August.

For the last three years “Owain” has transported audiences through a unique Welsh history lesson told through a participative silent disco experience using wireless headsets. It has toured castles across Wales, UK festivals and even been held in front of the Welsh Senedd (parliament) in Cardiff Bay during the national Eisteddfod 2018. The online version retains all the hallmarks of the original, but as a virtual, live and interactive audience experience whilst sieged during lockdown in their own homes.

This is a disco like no other, in which audiences dance the rebellion of the last Welsh prince of Wales. It’s 1399 and Owain Glyndŵr, the legendary rebel Prince of Wales, has disappeared without a trace. Audiences discover his destiny on the virtual dancefloor, with a DJ mixing club classics, punk hits and pop anthems, whilst experiencing the highs and lows of the uprising, with fierce twmpath, dance-offs, sieges, betrayals, and defections.

Performed bilingually, audiences dance along to power ballads and anthems from Donna Summer to Tame Impala, Blondie to The Sex Pistols, as well as music from Welsh artists Gwenno and Ifan Dafydd while immersed in the historical events of Wales.

We now have plans to “tour” the work to other online festivals, programmes etc so look out for news on that during 2020/21.

STR support ensured that we could embed an audio descriptive approach into the script itself, supporting blind and partially sighted audience members, plus Beth House of Taking Flight providing audio description live as well.

For a preview of this mad and wonderful show, click here